Moo Barn Fees And Rules...

[jayinoz]

Hi guys\girls, I been in a few Moo Barns and most keep the standard up pretty high... others seem to slack off and let the place turn into a dump. Housing and rental prices drop accordingly. What to do when Moo Barn Management doing next to nothing? If those in the know state 'Do not pay'- what are the implications of not paying. Surely they could not take a home based on 1-2-3 years etc of missed fees. What are the rules? In our case we been in excellent Moo Barns with 2 security, several cleaners, facilities kept clean always, etc. Now we in a Moo Barn that are a lot less active and still charges same rate as other surrounding Moo Barns. Hires 1 security (also sleeps always) and 1 cleaner only. I worked out Management get approx. 125,000 bt pm and do next to nothing. Outlay must be far less than 20k bt- great profit margins. What to do? Surely owners can simply force Management out or stop paying as some have done. Thus why many Moo Barns reach a point of no security and\or cleaners, etc. Anyway we rent and for the most part owners prefer renters to pay the fee... naturally. However owner states do not worry as we have not paid for over 1.5 years and many others not paying. The Name and Shame sheet displays approx. 20% not paying. We keep getting letters of demand for the owner but they never paid since Oct 2009... what is likely to happen? Reading this only demand letter states an extra amount will be due... but not taking possession of the house. Management leaves and all maintenance comes to halt like some older Moo Barns I gather. Depreciating an investment by a huge amount. Still huge profits for management who do nothing from the 80% who do pay. Must be in best interests to do less than the minimum required. I feel maybe a 10 year timeframe is noted in contracts, after that the Moo barn has no obligations... Any thoughts? Renters and owners.....cheers

[ThaiPauly]

Normally once the building company have finished a Moo Baan it will be handed over to a resident's association to keep it well maintained, the builders don't really care about it once they have gone.

Once this happens and the residents association has been formed in my experience this is when the trouble starts.

Where I live, several people do not pay their dues, and there is nothing anyone seems to be able to do about it, the more people that don't pay, the more people who paid stop paying and then the standards start to drop dramatically.

We are lucky in the fact that the woman who is our association secretary is good, but she is now wishing she had not taken on the job as she has to deal with a lot of crap from people while she is trying to collect the money, one of the reasons people don't pay is because they say it's ther second home so why should they pay when they are hardly ever there!!! Not something you could get away with in the west, but they do!!

Income has dropped and while we still have good security we now only have one maintainence person and one road sweeper, there used to be two of each, and as the bitching gets worse every time they have a meeting I fear that sooner or later the asociation will colapse, the woman that runs it now says she wishes she had never taken the job on, could jack it in and nobody else wants the job.

If the association does collapse then the local council take it over and do very little , hardly any rubbish collection, no street sweeping and no security.

It's a shame, but I have seen it happen in other moo baans, sometimes its best not to buy in one. We have lived in our home for 7 years and only since the bulders handed over the responsibilty to the resdidents have things started to slide, coz now everyone knows who the people are that don't pay as they are "named and shamed" at the assocation meetings, but they don't seem to care , they don't attend the meetings anyway.

When these associations collapse the condition of the moo baan sufers sharply, if you take Lakeland on canal road as an example, I can imagine that it was a superb development when it was first built, but now there are derelict houses, overgrown footpaths, a closed pool and no security, but some of the house there are priced 10m upwards, I can't imagine who would want to live there?

It's all TIT I suppose

[sfokevin]

I am on the board in a condo i own in Bangkok - If they don't pay we cut off the water (which is provided by the building via the water Dept)

[slapout]

The local tambon can/will take over the trash service if requested, when the moo ban contractor/developers are lax or not following the original schedule. The water system can also be turned over to the tambon, they will normally make plans for municipal water and do away with the moo ban well/water system. This also applies to the upkeep/repair on streets , again it must be signed over. The upkeep/cleaning of streets, vacant lots, etc is normally left up to the owners/renters.

When faced with this choice, the contractors may get on the ball, or maybe not, depends on how united the moo ban residences are, and if they are willing to hold back the funds in their entirety, until service improves.

[hellodolly]

Don't know what to tell you. I was treasure of a strata counsel in Canada. We had the same problem there. When it got to a certain point we could take them to court. We had a fellow who did this for a living and we would just call him and he took care of all the paper work.

Don't think you have that option here in Thailand.

Good luck

[stuartd1]

OP said: 'I worked out Management get approx. 125,000 bt pm'

What does each property pay? I have searched for Moo Baan rates but can find nothing.

Seems that primary reasons for going for a Moo Baan are security and maintenance, but given local wage levels wouldn't it be feasible to hire security and ground maintenance staff directly? Aren't their any local agencies?

When we lived in Jakarta we had three security men on 8 hour shifts, one who doubled as a gardener. cost about US$ 60 each a month. Day maid 5 1/2 days a week about the same, and we were intentionally overpaying!

[doppa]

I am on the board in a condo i own in Bangkok - If they don't pay we cut off the water (which is provided by the building via the water Dept)

under current thai law, it's illegal to cut off the electricity or water, so shhhh, don't tell anyone.

[elektrified]

We pay 350 baht and that is basically for trash pick-up. The moobaan management does nothing, no cleaning or clearing of lots, no security - nothing. Owners/renters are responsible for everything.

[frankafey]

They need the power to put a lein on the property and if they don't pay they lose the property.

[justcruisin]

I am on the board in a condo i own in Bangkok - If they don't pay we cut off the water (which is provided by the building via the water Dept)

under current thai law, it's illegal to cut off the electricity or water, so shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Under section 18/1 of the Condo act it is stated that common area facilities may be denied for co-owners who are overdue, generally this includes water,finger scan/card access.

This does not include electricity as that is supplied by a provicial authority. I don't know the Laws regarding Moobans but it should be similiar.